This invention is in the field of predictive dialing systems, and more particularly deals with the provision of a low-cost automated method of recording telephone call results in the contact database employed in a predictive dialing campaign.
Predictive dialing systems have greatly increased the efficiency of telemarketing operators, allowing them to spend their time talking to prospects rather than doing the mechanical tasks necessary to establish contact with the prospect. These systems automatically dial telephone numbers from a list stored in a prospect database. Busy signals and unanswered calls are recycled for dialing later, and answered calls are put in a queue to await a non-busy operator. Thus the operators are supplied with a steady stream of prospects on answered telephone lines.
Specified information from the database about the prospect can also be displayed to the non-busy operator receiving the call. Various computer programs are used to attempt to match the flow of answered calls to non-busy operators, minimizing both the waiting time for prospects and the idle time for operators.
A further desired feature of such systems is the ability to record the outcome of the calls made back in the prospect database. The system manager is thereby provided with the information he requires about the call results. As well, typically, once all numbers in the database have been dialed, the system starts through the list of telephone numbers again. The results recorded for the previous call to this number will indicate whether the number should be dialed again or skipped.
Present systems employ a computer terminal for each operator, allowing considerable detailed information to be relayed firstly to the operator about the contact, and secondly to the computer database about the outcome of the call. In many applications however, such detailed information is not necessary, and it may not be necessary that the operator have any information about the prospect he is talking to. In some systems, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,341,412 to Ramot et al., control of the telephone functions is also done through the computer keyboard or mouse. The cost of such a system is high, however, limiting the market for this type of equipment, since in a typical sixteen operator installation there would be at least seventeen computers and a network linking them required, in addition to the dialing controller and sixteen operator telephones, and sixteen to twenty outside telephone lines. Present systems also require a computer network linking all computers to the predictive dialer and the computer database.
A predictive dialing system which eliminated the need for computer terminals at each operator station while continuing to provide for call data feedback from the operators for storage in the campaign database would be desirable. The device would be much simpler to install and manufacture, and obviously the cost would be lower as in the cost of operator computer terminals and their supporting computer network can be eliminated.
This could be accomplished using operator devices, with dial tone multifrequency (DTMF) capability. DTMF signals could be fed back to the dialing controller whose they could be converted into data for transmission to the storage in the database. Call results could be dialed back into the central database from the keypad of a basic operator telephone set or any other DTMF-capable device.
Using DTMF signals to send information to the central database in a predictive dialing application would allow any DTMF-capable device to be used by the operators. Basic DTMF devices, such as telephones, are inexpensive and can make such a predictive dialing apparatus very affordable, in addition to very useful in applications not requiring the full complexity and multitude of functions provided by a system employing computer terminals at every operator station.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a predictive dialing method and apparatus which will eliminate the need for computer terminals at the operator stations.
It is also the object of the present invention to provide, in a predictive dialing application, a system for entering call results into a computer database that is more economical to set up and maintain than those systems presently available.
It is the further object of the present invention to provide, in a predictive dialing application, a system for entering call results which allows the system manager to preconfigure which call results which will be allowed, including a call result which might indicate to the database and the dialing controller that the telephone contact should be repeated or not.
The predictive dialing apparatus of the present invention accomplishes these objects comprising a central computer containing a database of prospect records, each said project record including telephone dialing information for making a telephone contact and a field for storing a call data response in relation to said telephone contact; a plurality of DTMF-capable operator devices; and a dialing controller which is operatively connected to a plurality of outside telephone lines and to said central computer as well as to each said operator device, whereby said dialing controller can dial telephone calls on said outside telephone lines based on telephone dialing information received from said central computer and connect each such call to an operator device, said dialing controller including a DTMF signal interpreter to receive DTMF signals representing call data from said operator devices and translates said DTMF signals into call data responses, said dialing controller then transmitting said call data responses to said central computer for storage in relation to their respective prospect records in the database.
The number of outside telephone lines might be greater than the number of operator devices, to allow for the maximization of operator contact time on the telephone.
Acceptable call data responses could be preset in the central computer and enforced by the dialing controller during the handling of telephone calls. This would allow for the enforcement of a standard data collection policy across all of the operator telephones. One of the call data responses which might be returned to the central computer for storage in the database with respect to a prospect record might indicate whether or not that respective telephone contact should be repeated.
The operator devices which could be used could be any type of a DTMF-capable device, including a telephone.
Also disclosed is a method of entering call results in a computer database in a predictive dialing application, said database residing in a central computer and comprising a plurality of prospect records each including telephone dialing information for making a telephone contact and a field for storing a call data response in respect of said telephone contact, said method comprising dialing telephone calls to telephone contacts listed within said database using a predictive dialing apparatus, said predictive dialing apparatus comprising a plurality of DTMF-capable operator devices and a dialing controller operatively connected to said central computer and to a plurality of outside telephone lines as well as to each said operator device, said dialing controller including a DTMF signal interpreter to interpret DTMF signals received from said operator devices, whereby said dialing controller can dial telephone calls on said outside telephone lines based on telephone dialing information received from said central computer, and connect each such call to an operator device. Call data regarding such telephone calls is sent from the operator devices to the dialing controller by way of DTMF signals, which can be translated by the DTMF signal interpreter into a call data response. The call data responses are then in turn transmitted from the dialing controller to the central computer for storage in the database in relation to their respective prospect records.
This method might be practised where the operator devices were telephones.
Data standardization within the method could be established by programming an acceptable range of call data responses into the central computer and allowing the dialing controller to enforce the use of such preset call data responses during the handling of telephone calls. A call data response returned to the central computer might include a response which indicated whether or not that respective telephone contact should be repeated again.
The method and apparatus of the present invention allows for limited feedback to a central database in a predictive dialing application without the need for a computer terminal at each operator system. The use of DTMF tones, which can be generated by almost any telephone or many other devices, allows for a wide range of inexpensive equipment to be used as the operator devices.
The present invention provides a much simplified system which is much more economical for the purchaser to buy and set up, as there is, at minimum, only a standard analog telephone set at each operator station, rather than a computer terminal. Only one computer is needed, which houses the central database and is operatively connected to the dialing controller. The predictive dialer itself could be any dialer with an appropriate interface allowing for the receipt, translation and transfer of DTMF signals from the operator devices to the computer database to be recorded therein in relation to their respective prospect records.